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CALFIN: The only olution I see, as I said before, is
educating the masses, especially the media.
Television, by the way, is completely hurting the
industry with their detective shows and such. The
arcade is always the place t he bad element hangs
out--often a young per on will be standing over a
pinball machine ju t as someone comes in and
hoots up the place or something bizarre like that.
It really irritates me now .. I used to think it was
funny that people would believe anything they saw.
I am prompted to write a letter to the various
studios, making them aware of what they are doing
to the industry. Another means of educating the
rna es i the institution of well -run tournaments.
We a operator must be responsible for well-run,
re pecta ble location . There is now a craze of
arcade openings going on. They are not well
thought-out or planned arcades; they are haphazard
operation that are closing as quickly as they are
opening.
Perhaps there could be some sort of industry
control on thi sort of thing which would in turn
protect our image with the masses. We find people
opening a business knowing only two things--how to
turn on the machines and how to empty the cash
boxes. Obviou ly, after a short time, they are out of
bu ines and the scar remain on our ·industry.
Tho e are the places that the legislators remember
because they fit right in with their predetermined
opinion of the industry. Larger operators are the
ones who will be around for a long time because it is
a big busineess considering the cost of machines,
they will be the ones who are trained in business
and management just like any other sophisticated
business .
PLA YMETER: Speaking of the cost of machines
now, do you rent or lease any of your equipment?
CALFIN: Up until a year ago, we purchased all of
our equipment. Within the last year, however,
many of the di tributorhsips have made it easy to
put equipment on a lease program. In fact they are
promoting the idea. We lease equipment for a
period which will allow us to see what sort of
revenue we can earn from the machine, how long it
will last on a location and the potential it has of
being moved to another location. We use that
information to determine if we should perchase the
machine . That gives us the flexibility to weed out
t he losers and find profitable machines.
Leasing of equipment has been a tremendous
boost to us. It gives us an opportunity to spread a
variety of equipment around to all the arcades we
operate without the initial investment involved
when purchasing machines. In that way, we can
continually upgrade equipment.
PLAYMETER: You mentioned earlier that you
own all of your arcades either individually or with
your original partners. Obviously, one of the
financial benefits of running an arcade is that you
don't have to plit your take with a location owner.
Are there any other financial benefits to running an
arcade a oppo ed to running a route?
CALFIN: The benefits of running an arcade are,
primarily, that your equipment is in one centralized
PUt' ltfETER
location. This makes maintenance and serv1cmg
much easier because you don't have a man taking up
a lot of his valuable time on the road.
Secondly, in an arcade you have a full -time
manager who I consider to be a professional also.
We train them to watch the equipment very closely.
Not only will they watch for breakdown, but they
also prevent abuse of the equipment. In this way,
we always know quickly if a machine is malfunction-
ing, making the revenue go down and you wouldn't
know why. In that way, they also act as an agent of
security. On the route, there is very little you can
do about ecurity.
PLA YMETER:How do you go about training these
arcade managers?
CALFIN: We took the time to analyze and create a
set of written procedures for our managers. We
have an existing manager come from one of our
other arcades to come to train a new one. My
partner and myself will follow up to make sure that
they don't have any problems. This whole process
of training will take about two months. You
manager is a fellow that you really have to trust; so
when I lose a manager, it hurts.
PLAYMETER: Do you have trouble finding
employees?
CALFIN: We have trouble finding good employees,
people that will stick with us for a long time. Once a
mechanic has good through the usual six month
training period, he will sometimes be taken by some
other amusement company or he will go ahead on
his own. It is rather disheartening to know that you
have been the one to invest in the training of these
people and someone else is reaping the harvest.
As far as managerial help , it is hard to find
someone who has the willingness to give his best all
the time. They always start of gung-ho, then slack
off as time goes on. We have to keep a lot of controls
on the managers all the time to make sure they
are following through with all t heir duties. My
partner has had 30 years experience in the
wholesale floor covering business; so he is familiar
with dealing with large business. He is really good
with keeping controls on our managers.
PLA YMETER: What is his name?
CAL FIN: Errol Eidelman
PLA YMETER: Other than legal items surrounding
amusement machines, what do you think is the
major problem confronting the average arcade
operator?
CAL FIN: The major problem would definitely be
cost of labor, espcially. For example, to get a good
mechanic you will spend about $300.00 per week.
I feel they may be worth it, though. I still
consider technicians and repair people the backbone
of our business because they are specialized in
·troubleshooting arcade pieces. They also have the
talent of knowing what parts of the machines are
working properly when they play them. The only
way they do that is to have within their memories a
repertoire of all the games on the route. My
mechanic also act as judges if a game is too hard or
too ea y.
Another cost problem is the increasing rent
situation , especially whenever you move into better
locations.
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